Kyle Spencer (journalist)

Kyle Spencer is an American author and journalist who primarily writes about education. A frequent New York Times contributor since 2012, Spencer began reporting on how far-right groups are targeting US college students to form a conservative youth movement in 2018.[1]

Woman with long hair
Kyle Spencer

Her reporting led to the book Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of America's Ultraconservative Youth Movement and Its Plot for Power, published by HarperCollins in 2022,[2][3] which focuses on such figures as Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and conservative commentator Candace Owens. The book showed how the groups "use social media, flashy trips to conservative conferences in vacation hotspots, celebrity conservatives, and wedge issues" to draw in young people.[4] Spencer found that the movement was a "reaction to Obama-ism," with Kirk and others inspired by President Barack Obama's use of social media while also responding to his policies.[5]

She also reported that conservative donors spend more than three times as much on youth education and activism every year as their liberal counterparts.[6]

Life and career

Spencer has written for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Baltimore Sun, The Daily Beast, The International Herald Tribune, New York magazine, Slate, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Politico magazine, among other publications. From 2012 to 2020, she covered education for the New York Times.

In 2014 she co-produced a Frontline episode[7] about a school district resegregation plan in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that won the EWA Broadcast Award.[8]

Spencer's previous book, She's Gone Country, was a memoir about her time working as a journalist in North Carolina.[9][10]

References
  1. "Kyle Spencer". Spencer Fellows. Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  2. RAISING THEM RIGHT | Kirkus Reviews.
  3. "Raising Them Right: The Untold Story of America's Ultraconservative Youth Movement—and Its Plot for Power by Kyle Spencer". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  4. Harris-Perry, Dr. Melissa (6 November 2022). "The Right-Wing Movement Aimed at Drawing in Young People". WNYC. Retrieved 17 February 2023. In her new book, 'Raising Them Right,' award-winning journalist Kyle Spencer documents a coordinated and well-funded right-wing movement aimed at young people to bring ultra-conservative and radical ideas into the mainstream.
  5. Epp, Julian. "Republicans Have Spent Millions on Youth Outreach. And It's Working". No. 26 October 2022. The Nation. Retrieved 17 February 2023. The movement was really a reaction to Obama-ism. He's often referred to as 'the social media president,' because he really did pioneer a lot of ways that politicians would use the Internet to spread their message. Conservatives saw this—Charlie Kirk, in particular—and decided, 'Hey, I need to catch up and do this for my side. I want to figure out a way to manipulate the Web and to utilize social media to spread conservative messaging.'
  6. Spencer, Kyle (19 October 2022). "Opinion: As Democrats and Republicans battle for younger voters, one side is outspending the other 3-to-1". MarketWatch. Retrieved 17 February 2023. Despite their stodgy, buttoned-up reputation, every year conservative donors spend more than three times what their counterparts on the left do in youth education and activism.
  7. Spencer, Kyle (15 July 2014). "The Uncomfortable Reality of Community Schools". Frontline. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  8. "Kyle Spencer". Spencer Fellows. Spencer Education Fellowship Program. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  9. "SHE'S GONE COUNTRY: Dispatches from a Lost Soul in the Heart of Dixie by Kyle York Spencer". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  10. Yardley, Jonathan (2002-06-07). "A Little Tar on Her Heel and You'd Think She Was Poisoned". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
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